Morning in Tucson

[ellarien]

I popped out for some emergency groceries before breakfast; it's a bright, cold morning, with frost clinging to shady slopes here and there. Arriving home again, I happened to glance up and see a small hawk perched atop a utility pole, sharp against the sky. I don't think it was a redtail, which is what we usually get around here in the winter; it was too small and too grey, but it was definitely a raptor and not a pigeon.

Comments

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Was it small enough to be a kestrel?

[ellarien]

Possibly, but the pictures of kestrels in my book look too colorful; this was a distinctly monochrome critter. It's entirely the wrong part of the world for merlins, which seem to be the other possibility for small birds of prey.